Lydia Hoglund is the lead singer of Bomba de Luz, and the collaborator of many hip hop acts around the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Any kind of music she can try, she tries. Though Lydia is currently gearing up to hit the road with Rhymesayers’ hip-hop giants Atmosphere, Toki Wright, and Dem Atlas this February, Bomba De Luz is at work on its third album, set to be released in June of 2014.
A little more than a week ago, I attended a press conference on the Central Corridor in Frogtown that announced the Victoria Theater Arts Initiative, a new project that will launch an array of arts events and programs for Saint Paul. It was great to be out, amongst friends, even though most of the people there were folks I’d never seen before. It made me realize that getting out, even during a winter that has already been too long, makes the short days and low temperatures much easier to bear.
In the summer of 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till took the bus from Chicago to Mississippi to visit relatives. He never returned and his murder became a focal point that highlighted the culture of terror under which African Americans had lived for four centuries. The awareness that followed this event made clear that the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. was about much more than getting a preferred seat on a bus. This is not just history: these experiences are recounted in the stories of our neighbors—both those who lived in the previous century and those who still live with racism today. The theatrical visions presented for four decades by Saint Paul’s Penumbra Theatre can be seen as ripples that still spread outward from the original splash of King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Now that the frigid winds of the polar vortex have retreated back to the habitat of fluffy killer bears and—like most Minnesotans—you’re back to wearing shorts and sending outdoor T-shirt selfies to Facebook friends in Florida, there’s no excuse to stay inside. This week, let Saint Paul provide a post-chill sensory explosion.
This is the time of year when things are quiet on the literary front. Booksellers are bundling up in front of the fire with their publisher catalogs and dreaming of which authors will stock their shelves and visit their stores, hopefully before winter leaves us. Meanwhile, around town, there is still more than enough happening to tempt us out of our hibernation and keep us connected to the pulse of the city.
One holiday is over, but the kids are still out of school. Maybe you were able to take in “History Center Holidays” at the Minnesota History Center. If not, the festivities continue through the last day of the year. Whether you already checked that one off your list, or if your family is moving at a slightly different speed, there are several other ways to ring in the new year.
Chances are, your neighborhood is now filled with young people who are starting an extended winter break from school. It is a hard time for grown-ups and near grown-ups to find a real break in this season, whether we have to go to a job or not, but maybe some of you are still lucky enough to be able to grab a little bit of a break. “Break” might not be the correct term, but we are here to suggest a few things that might “break” the stress of your holiday week.
UPDATED with more weekend activities! It is supposed to warm up this week, and many of us will show more courage venturing out into the world without the sharp cold that nipped our noses last week. We have lost our excuse to sit inside, and this week’s arts calendar shows us we can’t be caught saying, “There’s nothing for me to do.” In part, thanks to three remarkable women of words and letters, and some other talented neighbors, we will not be bored.
It has been a true Minnesota Winter week, with more to come. Even so, we have found several things that’ll make you want to venture outside to where the coziness and heat will make it worth the neighborhood trek.
Michael Lee is a writer, performer and youth worker. He is a recipient of a 2014 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant as well as a VERVE Grant. Michael ranked ninth at the 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam and was named the 2011 “Best Individual Poet” of Collegiate Nationals (CUPSI). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rattle, Indiana Review and Criminal Class Press. He lives in Minneapolis where he works as a youth counselor at Avenues for Homeless Youth and drinks entirely too much coffee.
An open mic entirely dedicated to new work! Bring in your first drafts and test them out in the Soul Sounds community; a space for constructive feedback and good insight!
Featuring performances by Guante, Desdamona, Crescent Moon (of Kill the Vultures), Metasota, and See More Perspective. Come listen to five, singular voices in the world-renowned Twin Cities hip hop scene share their writing. Performing either a capella or accompanied by vocal percussion, the artists present an “unplugged” rap show that will highlight rap as a unique, dynamic poetic form with its own rules, values, and philosophies. The aim of the performance is not to divorce the voices from the beats in an attempt to compare and contrast rap with other forms of poetry, but rather to decontextualize the words in order to hear them from a new angle and gain a deeper appreciation for the craft of rapping.
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